User blog:Niarobi (Formerly Hadou)/DC Cosmology and Continuity
Introduction The purpose for this blog is to compile basically all notable information regarding the DC cosmology, partially so it will be easier to access any part of the information upon a whim, but also because a blog like this would make it easier to show and teach others the cosmology and it would make it easier for people to begin to grasp scaling in DC whenever they haven't read many comics. So, let's begin. The Universe The regular universe in DC is undoubtedly larger than the observable universe. Even using just finite statements talking about the birth of the universe, the regular universe expanded 60 trillion light-years of space and time. There was once a man who took Superman 100 trillion light-years away from Earth, and the Earth is in the center of the universe, so a finite low-ball would make the universe 200 trillion light-years. The universe has repeatedly been stated to be infinite. The Regular Multiverse The local multiverse is commonly known to have 52 universes, but even the numbered/lettered universes surpass 52 in number, but they never limit it to 52, even referring to them as the known/local multiverse, and then this being actually clarified to be a misconception, stating there to be infinite universes, which is far more consistent. There also exists an antimatter universe parallel to the entire positive matter multiverse. The Metaverse The metaverse is described as being the sum total of realities where there begin with infinite universes and every possible action or what-if scenario from the sub-atomic to the trans-universal creates an infinite number of shadow realities. Higher Dimensions If we wanna deal in finite numbers of dimensions, there are statements of six dimensions, eight dimensions, nine dimensions, ten dimensions, eleven dimensions, twelve and a third dimensions, fourteen dimensions, nineteen dimensions, twenty-four dimensions, twenty-eight dimensions, fifty-two dimensions, and one hundred and ninety-six thousand, eight hundred and thirty-three dimensions. However, it is pretty consistent that there are infinite dimensions. The Sphere of the Gods While people often have their doubts, the Sphere of the Gods is consistently beyond the concepts of space and time. Use this map for several things I'll reference from this point on. The Sphere of the Gods is beyond the Bleed, which contains all dimensions. The Speed Force Wall is also the boundary for the Bleed, which means that for one to be faster than light contextually, you'd actually have to move at a speed beyond dimensionality itself, at least within the bounds of this cosmology. If, for some reason, people denied the Map of the Multiverse, the Sphere of the Gods' position in the cosmology is solidified in the source material. Olympus is stated to be between and beyond space and time. One of the Gods of the Thirteen Heavens is stated to reside in a place that transcends place, on a day that transcends day. Both of these places are in Skyland. The Phantom Zone is described as a boundless dimensionless dimension between being and nothingness, and Hal Jordan had to cross a distanceless and timeless barrier when entering the Phantom Zone, which is synonymous on the Map to the Underworld. Heaven is stated to be beyond space and time, in which Hell is the same size as Heaven. New Genesis and Apokolips are beyond the bounds of space and time, where no words in the human language can describe this place-that-is-not-a-place and this time-that-is-not-a-time. The Dreaming and the Nightmare reside in the space beneath space and the space beyond space. Literally every major realm within the Sphere of the Gods has at least one statement that would support it being beyond the concepts of space and time, and this is solidified by the Map saying it is a great realm of archetypal Powers and Intelligences. Tying in with New Gods consistently being powerful, living ideas in a Platonic, archetypal world, and living Platonic shapes residing within Heaven. Platonic Forms are inherently transcendent to the concepts of time, space, and duality, despite what some people may think. Within the Sphere of the Gods, there are infinite limbos, and infinite heavens and hell. Hypertime Hypertime is moderately simple. Hypertime is like three "temporal dimensions", like time beyond time, applying to and encompassing even the Sphere of the Gods. There also exists the Branefold Interior, which is the space between spaces and the time between times, the physical manifestation of the Hypertime abstraction. Comic Book Limbo Comic Book Limbo is the place where forgotten characters end up, where matter and memory break down. Even on the level above the Sphere of the Gods, nothing ever happens or has any meaning, and time and space stories don't and can't even exist. Prospectively, all of existence is a non-existent story in the book of infinite pages written by a dead monkey. Several writers are shown to reside here. Monitor Sphere The Monitor Sphere is a realm where Limbo is miniscule and where things that were considered massive in Limbo are now considered infinitesimal. It's a fundamental world where primal forms of stories, scale, space, and time exist on an even higher level, where everything is more meaningful and profound and absolute. Nil is where form and meaning surrender to the Overvoid. Tying into this, the Over-Monitor owned a satellite that is beyond mathematics. Source Wall The Source Wall is the limit the even Thought that stretches beyond infinity. It has sealing properties that affect anyone who touches it on accident, like Highfather, and anyone who has intent to go through to attain the Source, like Darkseid, and while these are common showings of how the Source Wall functions, it was actually made to contain Perpetua. While it's only ever been mentioned once, there is a second Source Wall. The Antimatter Universe used to be where the Source Wall is, but it was replaced by the Source Wall. Crises and Retcons Several Crises have occurred that retconned much of the multiverse, such as the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, and Flashpoint, and Metron mentions how these retcons didn't affect those within the Sphere of the Gods. Libra also became so large that he transcended physical form and ascended to the Sphere of the Gods. He remembers his encounters with the Justice League, but they don't remember him. This shows that those within the Sphere of the Gods, and thus higher as well, shouldn't be affected by retcons. There are even people below that level who seemed unaffected by the Crisis on Infinite Earths, like Darklord Maaldor and and Blackstarr. After Rebirth, it seems the retcons themselves are retconned as even Superman is remembering events from the Silver Age, and Batman remembering (sorta) events from the Golden Age. The Source The Source is really simple. It's just a non-dual omni-awareness that is boundless to even the Alephs before it that are like infinite to everything up to this point. Since we've reached the peak of what is technically considered all of Creation, I'd just like to mention that it's all made out of vibrations. The Microverse The Microverse is a sub-atomic universe that is infinitesimal, the foundation of all of creation and reality. One must shrink past multiple quantum barriers to go there, a level so fundamental that truths exist here. There is also actually a quantum realm relative to the Microverse, itself. The only thing actually smaller than the Microverse is the concept of zero. The Microverse is connected to the whole multiverse. Convergence Convergence is basically an event that made anything directly canon that wasn't already canon, where Brainiac basically brought everything together, going even beyond the Source to other Creations to get every iteration of the characters from different continuities to converge them. He essentially mixes all Supermans together, from the Golden Age to Rebirth, and even All-Star Superman is included in the mix, among several others. Planes of Existence There are two things in DC that are referred to as "dimensions". The first type I went into earlier listing the many sudden higher dimension statements. The second time is more commonly used and the term is used interchangeably with planes of existence. This argument might seem like a stretch, but there's actually a lot of evidence supporting it. Here's Mister Mxyzpltk explaining the first five dimensions. He says the first dimension is a point and the second is a line. It might seem at this point that he's referring to spatial/mathematical dimensions, but if that were the case, a point would be considered zero-dimensional and a line would be considered one-dimensional. He then goes on to say that matter is the third dimension, time is the fourth dimension, and that imagination is the fifth dimension. First of all, matter isn't the third dimension in real life, even, matter is merely three-dimensional. The fourth dimension is only theorised to be time, but I can poke holes in this. Things like time and imagination aren't defaultly dimensions, they can actually only function as things similar dimensions under the notion of complex plane dimensions, which would further support my notion. The Sixth Dimension is also referred to as the sixth and highest plane of existence, which directly implies the five lower dimensions are also planes of existence. So the first is a plane of existence where everything is null, and the second is just lines. The third is the material plane of existence, and the fourth is a transcendent plane of existence that functions like time. Mister Mxyzpltk was a bit off when explaining the fourth dimension, it's actually the Timestream, which is consistently beyond space and time. Mxy mentions that the fourth dimension actually encompasses the Source Wall. Another thing to support the dimensions being planes of existence is that they're often treated as places. There are also counterparts to these "dimensions", like antimatter, the Anti-Timestream, and unimagination. There's currently no known counterpart to the Sixth Dimension, we just know it's that which is beyond imagination. The Dark Multiverse The Dark Multiverse is a representation of dark matter as a counterpart to the positive matter and antimatter portions of multiverse, where the multiverse is just a fishbowl floating atop an oceanic subconscious realm. The Dark Multiverse is an ever-shifting landscape of creation and uncreation made of worlds stillborn or soon to be aborting with a fleeting existence. Every fear and bad decision spawns another nightmarish realm, and it's stated that the Dark Multiverse houses all the stories that are never meant to be. There are infinite nightmare worlds, because it's an infinite darkness where every nightmare becomes reality. Contrary to the regular multiverse, the Dark Multiverse is made of anti-music. The Multi-Multiverse/Omniverse In the Omniverse, there exist other Creations, such as Lucifer's. We see there is a Multiverse-2, which Grant Morrison clarifies that there are actually infinite of these Creations. A multiverse of multiverses, an Omniverse of infinite multiverses. The Unknowable On the Map of the Multiverse, it is shown that Destiny's Book contains all of Creation, where it is all merely illusions of all stories written in the book. There exists the Darkworld/Great Darkness/Abyss/Otherplace, which is the source of all human magic. There also exists the Shadowlands, the place where the Great Darkness fled whenever the Presence came into being as light. The Overvoid The Overvoid is this infinite and eternal page that all of DC Comics is drawn on, even the Presence. Final Heaven, the World of the Eonymous, and the Oversphere/the Crack Final Heaven is a place stated to be outside of all things but one where stories, hyper-stories and hyper-realities are fabricated, where the writers reside and have access to even fan fictions and realities that breach copyright, a level where the distinction of canon or non-canon doesn't exist. Final Heaven is a coffee stain that sits atop the Overvoid in a world that views it as merely a piece of paper, which is likely the same world where the Eonymous sit and watch all of DC on a TV. The Oversphere is a realm that views the Overvoid/the Paperverse as being merely lower-dimensional, where people can easily retcon, control, create, and dictate the flow of all continuities. The Oversphere is a place within the Crack. Grant Morrison has said that the location of the Crack would be revealed in Issue #12 of the Filth comicline, which shows that the endless excremental plains of The-World-In-The Crack are insignificant to the pen of Greg Feely. Outro Hope this helps others as much as it'll probably help me. See you guys another time (which is not a time, which transcends time). Category:Blog posts